Kenneth Pobo

Decline and Fall

I want someone to defend me
from what I fear,
from who I hate, someone
to say how right I am
and to say that everything
will be fine with enough
guns,
everything will be fine
if we lock up
or kill enough people
who just don’t get it.

Then I’ll feel OK.
I’ll stop worrying.
I’ll let Jesus handle it all
which He’ll do perfectly
when I can at last
get some sleep.

TRUST AND

In church
he shouts about
how angry God is
over gay people–
my eyes wander
to the Fanton boys,
all three are cute,
and maybe Danny Fanton
would sneak away with me
to a Sunday School
classroom where we’d
get nice and wanton
while Pastor asks everyone
to sing “Trust And Obey”
in the Broadman hymnal
before the benediction
as Danny and I sneak out
the back way.

Kenneth Pobo has a new book of poems out from Blue Light Press called Bend of Quiet. His work has appeared in Indiana Review, Nimrod, Slant, Floating Bridge, Mudfish, and elsewhere.